King of the Outcasts
by Loki Palmer
Summary: A response to DZ2's "Let It Go" Challenge. Harry has found himself an outcast for far too long, in spite of saving the world so many times. He may as well be their King. H/Hr.
1. Chapter 1

"**King of the Outcasts"**

By Loki Palmer

**Author's Note: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling. My thanks to DZ2 for his encouragement about this particular challenge, a challenge he thought was right up my alley – and it was! So, by popular demand, I will be turning this first serving of literary stew from my Madhouse Kitchen into a story – but I will have to write up a second chapter to it before I can consider it a story.**

**Chapter 1**

Harry breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that Cedric Diggory was the Hogwarts Champion. "Whew … maybe I will have a peaceful year after all …"

"Wonderful!" said Professor Dumbledore. "Now that we have our three Champions …"

Great was the shock of the assembly in the Great Hall as the Goblet of Fire spewed out a fourth parchment, which Dumbledore caught; greater was the shock when he read the name on it:

"Harry Potter … no, this can't be right. Harry Potter?"

Harry could not believe his ears either, and sat there in shock.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Hermione gave him a small shove. "Harry, get up there!"

"But Hermione –"

"Just go already! We'll talk about it later!"

As he stepped forward to meet the Headmaster, he heard voices all around him say:

"He's a cheat!"

"He's not even of age yet!"

"How did he get his name into the Goblet?"

When he arrived at the Goblet, he spun around to face his accusers, his glare murderous. "HOW **DARE **YOU ACCUSE ME WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST SHRED OF EVIDENCE!" A loud thunderclap shook the Great Hall as Harry raised his wand. "Upon my magic I swear that I did not put my name in the Goblet, nor did I ask an older student to do so for me!"

Everyone gasped, for such an oath, known as a wizard's oath, could strip away the wizard's magic if the person was lying. Either the wizard in question would be a Squib or dead; neither one sounded pleasant from a wizarding standpoint.

"Harry, do you realize what you've done?" said Professor Dumbledore.

"If I have told the truth, Headmaster, I will suffer no ill effects. EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A bright silver stag exited Harry's wand and went to Hermione. As it nuzzled her, it grew brighter, causing others nearby to shield their eyes, then it trotted back to its master, nuzzled him, and disappeared.

Harry looked at the stunned crowd. "Any questions?"

**~KING OF THE OUTCASTS~**

She found him in the Astronomy Tower. "Harry?"

He turned around. "Hermione … you seem to be my only friend in this darkest of times …"

She hugged him. "I'm here for you, no matter what. Is it me, or has the temperature dropped around here?"

Harry started to sing [to "Let It Go"]:

"A cold wind blows all through Hogwarts tonight,  
>Hardly no one to be seen;<br>A kingdom of outcast rejects,  
>And guess what? I am their King!<br>My anger's flowing like this thunderstorm outside!  
>I just can't clamp it down; God, You know I've tried!<br>Don't let your anger cloud your view;  
>Please be calm and you will see it through!<br>Well, Dumbledore, I've had enough!  
>I say, enough!"<p>

Lightning flashed around the area as Harry continued singing:

"I'll arise! I'll arise!  
>As of now, in my darkest hour,<br>Just like Fawkes, from the ash,  
>I'll come back with so much power!<br>Lightning flash, and thunder roar!  
>Let my darkness rage;<br>The storm, it don't scare me none anymore!"

What he was not expecting was that Hermione would join in the song:

"Harry, you know I love you, staying always by your side,  
>With the courage that you give me, I no longer have to hide!<br>Dear, with my brains and with your power,  
>Every enemy will have to cower!<br>Forget their rules, let's make them see:  
>We're free!<br>We'll arise! We'll arise!  
>Thunder roar across the skies!<br>Powers flow! Dark winds blow!  
>May they see it in our eyes!<br>I don't care what the world will say!  
>Let Our darkness rage …"<p>

Harry sang:

"Can you feel the thunder as it roars for miles around?"

Sure enough, even the castle shook with the thunderous roars. Hermione sang:

"Our enemies will have to cower underground!"

Harry sang:

"No good exists, nor evil, there is only power!"

Hermione sang:

"They will come to rue this night, and this, our very hour!"

Harry sang:

"We'll arise! We'll arise!  
>Like the break of the sun at dawn!"<p>

Hermione sang:

"We'll arise! We'll arise!  
>The Boy-Who-Lived is gone!"<p>

They sang together in harmony:

"We could care less what they're going to say!  
>As we show they're wrong!<br>The storms, they don't scare us none anyway!"

They had their first kiss under the darkness of the storm, lightning flashing all the while.

"Where shall we go first, Hermione?"

Her eyes sparked with mischief. "How about we go and visit an old friend … you know, the one who is so obsessed with you, you can't help but run into him every year? It's so nice he comes to visit at the end of each year … think what you like about him, he cares for you and your education …"

"Obsessed? You don't mean he's … faygeles or anything? I don't swing that way, Mione."

She gave him a playful swat. "No, you prat, but you do run into him every year …"

"Every year?"

She laughed. "Okay, except for third year, you've run into him …"

"I know the one of whom you speak, Mione. Shall we go, my dear?"

It was thus that, holding onto each other, the new couple vanished in a burst of lightning …

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who enjoyed this one-shot piece of literary stew from my Madhouse Kitchen. I'll be posting up the second chapter along with this one, so I can call it a story. Read and review!**

**Smiles and laughter,**

**Loki Palmer**


	2. Chapter 2

"**King of the Outcasts"**

By Loki Palmer

**Author's Note: Harry Potter and all related characters belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**Chapter 2**

Harry and Hermione landed out in an abandoned graveyard.

"Harry? Did we take a wrong turn at Albuquerque?"

"I don't think so. I remember this graveyard from my dream. The house is nearby, I'm sure of it … yep, there it is …"

The manor they were walking to in the distance looked like it had been falling apart since its earlier days of glory. He raised the knocker, and the sound reverberated.

Any moment now, thought Hermione, a tall butler would come and greet them at the door with a deep, "Good evening …"

However, it was not a tall butler who answered the door. It was a short rat-faced man they had met the last year. His eyes bulged in fear upon seeing them.

"Harry! Hermione! What would the both of you be doing here?"

"Would you care to let us in, Wormtail? It's a bit chilly out here."

"Oh, by all means, come inside. I must admit, the Dark Lord wasn't expecting to see you so soon …"

"Wormtail, who is it?" said a hoarse voice from upstairs.

"My Lord, it's the boy and one of his friends."

There was a moment of stunned silence. "Bring them up here."

"Right away, My Lord." Wormtail led them up the stairs into a cozy room with a blazing fireplace. A tall chair had its back turned to them.

"Wormtail, turn me around so I may greet our guests …"

Wormtail did so, and Hermione's heart jumped in shock. In the chair sat a humanoid creature – if people could label such a being as human – about as small as an infant.

"Leave us, Wormtail … and call the spy out here." Wormtail ran out. "Harry Potter … I must admit, your visit surprises me."

"So Wormtail has said, Tom … or would you prefer Voldemort?"

"You should know that question is irrelevant, Harry, though you have my permission to call me Tom. After all, what is in a name? A name is but a label, right? Speaking of names, who is this young maiden you have brought with you? She's one of your friends, so Wormtail has told me."

"Come on, now, dear … introduce yourself to the ugly baby …"

Tom smirked. "Touché, Harry. Was that necessary?"

Whatever fear had seized Hermione on seeing Tom's small form disappeared. "Tom, my name is Hermione Granger. I'm now his girlfriend and may I say what a horror it is to meet you?"

The mini Dark Lord chuckled, but the chuckle grew into a hearty laugh. "Oh, dear me, Harry! Wormtail has told me so much about the both of you, but never would I have imagined that she has so much wit!" As the laughter calmed down, he said, "I am glad to have met you, Miss Granger …"

"Hermione, please."

"Oh, very well, Hermione … may I ask why you and Harry have come?"

"Harry, would you care to tell him?"

"Sure, Hermione. You see, Tom, I have been involved in a life or death situation from the time you tried to kill me as a young baby … then there is all the mistreatment from my remaining family, the Dursleys … some family …"

Tom's eyebrows rose. "Your own family mistreats you? I would think they would have some appreciation considering what you did for the world."

"They cannot understand what I did, Tom … they hate our kind of people. Aunt Petunia hated my mom, saying, 'I was the only one who saw her for what she was … a freak!' Until I came into primary school the only names I knew, courtesy of Uncle Vernon, were 'Freak' or 'Boy.' They treated me like a slave and left me to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs until I got my Hogwarts letter." He noted Tom's growl. "Shall I continue, Tom?"

"Freak … that word brings up unpleasant memories … that was what my fellow children at the orphanage called me … I had no friends there, but I was comfortable without friends …"

"Your shade in the diary said we had much in common …"

"Wait a minute, Harry. Diary? My shade, you say? How did you encounter my diary?"

"Lucius gave it to Ginny Weasley, and there was a period of horror around the school as Muggle-borns got Petrified left and right. Even Hermione was a victim, much to my sadness and outrage. There was a battle between me and a sixty foot Basilisk, which I won, and then I stabbed the diary with a fang."

"Sixty feet, you say? Salazar's britches! From what I've heard from Wormtail, third year was more legendary yet …"

Hermione smiled. "You have no idea, Tom. Going back in time to drive away a hundred Dementors with a Patronus as bright as the Sun and saving his godfather? It sounds like an episode out of Doctor Who." Tom gave her a quizzical look. "It's a Muggle television show about an eccentric genius who travels all around the space-time continuum."

There was a knock at the door. "Enter! Harry, Hermione … I would like you to meet Barty Crouch Jr., my spy at Hogwarts."

Hermione turned to Harry. "He looks like David Tennant, the tenth Doctor, doesn't he?"

"Doctor? What Doctor?" said Barty with a grin. "Oh, I see … we have another Whovian! It's a rather common fandom in the Muggle world, if I do say so myself. So many Muggles asking me for autographs like you wouldn't believe … at least, they're treating me better than my father ever did …"

"Is it me," said Harry, "or do we all have Daddy issues?"

With a snort of amusement, Tom said, "I say we all have Daddy issues."

"I saw you at the Quidditch World Cup," said Harry. "You're the one who cast the Dark Mark."

Barty shrugged. "Guilty as charged … though, I must confess … what are you doing here?"

"Young Harry was just astounding me with his tales of the Hell he's been through, before and during Hogwarts, Barty. We have arrived at your fourth year, Harry … what life or death situation awaits you now?"

"I'm to be a Champion in this bloody Triwizard Tournament … and I was hoping that I would have a peaceful year for once …."

"… Yet, it seems that once again, you shall not have a peaceful year. Your unexpected visit at this time has changed my original plans, but no worries."

"If I may be so curious, Tom, what were your original plans?"

"Well, with some guidance from Barty in the disguise of Alastor Moody …"

Harry shot Barty a smirk. "Wow … I guessed that wasn't pumpkin juice you were drinking, and I was right."

Barty nodded. "I needed some way to keep an eye on you."

Tom cleared his throat. "Quite. With his guidance, you were to make your way through the Tournament – impressing the whole world with your skill in the process – to end up in the graveyard outside, where I would use your blood to resurrect myself …"

Harry smiled. "Let me guess … you would kill me next?"

Tom laughed. "Kill you, Harry? The thought may have crossed my mind in earlier times, but why would I want to kill you now?" More laughter sounded from him. "By Salazar, no, I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you, dear Harry? Life would be so boring! No, Harry, in a manner of speaking, you complete me … and Hermione, no, I'm not faygeles, so there is no need to ask."

"Neither is Harry," she said with a blush.

"You are perfect for him, Hermione, and he for you. As long as you two are there for each other, I am sure there is nothing and nobody who will stand in your way. I know I won't … but Harry, I don't want to kill you. I want to help you. If Hermione is the Juliet to your Romeo, then I guess that means I must be your Mercutio. Forgive my curiosity, but can you tell me why that Weasley kid isn't here?"

Harry thought back; the whole incident was a blur where he was seeing more red than the Troll Brain's distinctive ginger hair. "I must have sent him to the Hospital Wing. He still wouldn't believe that I had not put my name in the Goblet … and I think that pissed me off."

"I think Crookshanks – my cat – must have gotten in some good scratches and bites on him as well," said Hermione.

"Better to be at the Devil's right hand than in his path, am I right, Harry? Since when did you become such an angry terror?"

"It built up over time, I guess, Tom, but you were right. Good and evil don't exist, for there is only power and those too weak to seek it."

Tom smiled. "Welcome to the Dark Side, Harry. If we can get me back into a body, I can show the both of you how deep this rabbit hole goes …"

**~KING OF THE OUTCASTS~**

After the resurrection ritual was complete, Tom Marvolo Riddle, restored to a younger body, looked at his new allies with pride. "So, Harry, Hermione … where do we begin?"

**Author's Note: Another great chapter done. Read and review!**

**Smiles and laughter,**

**Loki Palmer**


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